Béarn and the Pyrenees

Béarn and the Pyrenees, by
Louisa Stuart

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Title: Béarn and the Pyrenees A Legendary Tour to the Country of
Henri Quatre
Author: Louisa Stuart Costello

Release Date: December 16, 2006 [eBook #20124]
Language: English
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BÉARN AND THE PYRENEES:
A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre.
by
LOUISA STUART COSTELLO,
Author of "The Bocages and the Vines," "A Pilgrimage to Auvergne,"
Etc.
With numerous Illustrations.
In Two Volumes.

London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, Publisher in
Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1844. Printed by R. Clay, Bread Street Hill.

TO MISS BURDETT COUTTS, THESE VOLUMES ARE
DEDICATED WITH MUCH RESPECT AND AFFECTION BY HER
SINCERELY OBLIGED HUMBLE SERVANT, LOUISA STUART
COSTELLO. LONDON, MARCH 16, 1844.

INTRODUCTION.
When I first indulged the inclination, which I had long entertained, of
visiting the famous castle of Chinon, and the equally interesting abbey
of Fontevraud--the palace and tomb of our English kings--and paused
on my way in "the lovely vales of Vire," and gathered in romantic
Brittany some of her pathetic legends, I thought I should have satisfied
my longing to explore France; but I found that every step I look in that
teeming region opened to me new stores of interest; and, encouraged by
the pleasure my descriptions had given, I set out again, following
another route, to the regal city of Rheims, visiting the vine-covered
plains of Champagne and Burgundy, and all their curious historical
towns, till I reached the dominion of Charles the Seventh at Bourges, to
become acquainted with whose gorgeous cathedral and antique palaces
is worth any fatigue. From thence I wandered on to the beautiful Monts
Dores, and the basaltic regions of unexplored Le Vellay; and, after
infinite gratification, I once more turned my steps homeward; but, like
Sindbad, I felt that there was much more yet to be explored; and I had
visions of the romantic and delightful realms, which extend where once
the haughty heiress of Aquitaine held her poetical courts of Love and
Chivalry. The battle-fields of our Black Prince were yet to be traced;
the sites of all the legends and adventures of the most entertaining of
chroniclers, Froissart, were yet to be discovered; and the land of
mountains and torrents, where the Great Béarnais passed his hardy
childhood, was yet unknown to me.
I therefore again assumed my "cockle hat and staff," and, re-entering
the Norman territory, commenced exploring, from the stone bed of the
Conqueror, at Falaise, to the tortoise-shell cradle of Henry of Navarre,
at Pau.
Not inferior to my two former pilgrimages, in interest, did this my third
ramble prove. How many "old romantic towns" I passed through; how
much of varied lore I heard and found amongst the still original and,
even now, unsophisticated peasantry; how numerous were the
recollections which places and things recalled, and how pleasant were
the scenes I met, I have endeavoured to tell the lovers of easy

adventure--for any traveller, with the slightest enterprise, could
accomplish what I have done without fatigue, and with the certainty of
being repaid for the exertion of seeking for amusement.
In succession, I paused at Le Mans, the scene of the great Vendéean
struggle, where the majestic cathedral challenges the admiration of all
travellers of taste; at Poitiers, full of antique wonders; in the region of
the Serpent lady, Melusine; at Protestant La Rochelle, with all its
battlements and turrets, and the most beautiful bathing-establishment in
Europe. At mysterious Saintes, and all its pagan temples and arches; at
Bordeaux, the magnificent; on the Garonne, and by its robbers'-castles;
at Agen, with its barber troubadour; in the haunts of Gaston de Foix
and Jeanne d'Albret and her son; in the gloomy valleys of the
proscribed Cagot; and where the mellifluous accents of the Basquaise
enchant the ear. All the impressions made by these scenes I have
endeavoured to convey to my readers, as I did before, inviting them to
follow my footsteps, and judge if I have told them true.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.
Honfleur--Dejazet--The Sailor Prince--Le Mari--Lisieux--La Croix